People talk about the Kalashnikov series of rifles be-ing not just simple but so agriculturally simple that even a Russian peasant can make them. After all

they are nothing more than some bent sheet metal and a barrel, right? Evidently those Russian peasants are smarter than most give them credit as American compa-nies have had a rough go at producing this 1940s Soviet design. The problems American companies have experi-enced should not come as any great surprise. The Soviets themselves experienced great difficulties that took years of hard work to solve when they first put the design into production. Everyone I have ever spoken to who is/was actually involved in Kalashnikov rifle production, Rus-sian, Pole, Serb, Finn. and now American all state the rifle is much more difficult to properly manufacture in quantity than you would expect.

Certain American companies have experienced prob-lems, delays and failure due to unforeseen issues involved in mass producing a Kalashnikov rifle of consistent high quality. Some of this is due to domestic manufacturers’ obvious lack of experience with this foreign design. How-ever there are other factors including cost cutting mea-sures stemming from trying to produce the rifle as inex-

pensively as possible. Not to be forgotten are blatant engineering failures, simple shoddy workmanship and poor/non-existent quality control procedures.

Put Up or Shut UpOne domestic company that had earned a black

eye due to the poor quality of its AK rifles is I.O., Inc. In 2014 I wrote an article in these pages about I.O. Inc.’s “come-to-Jesus” moment. Based on cus-tomer complaints, QC problems and various other issues, the President of the company, Uli Wiegand, shut down his factory in North Carolina and started over almost from scratch. In 2016 I visited his new facility in Palm Bay, Fla., and wrote about I.O., Inc’s efforts to improve its manufacturing processes, quality control and final product. When Wiegand sacked and replaced the entire engineering team, it appeared he was serious when he said he wanted to improve the quality of his rifles. In the third quarter

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I.O., INC. 10,000-ROUND TORTURE TESTBy David Fortier

PUT UP SHUT UP!

Can an I.O. Inc. AK and AR go the distance? With 10,000 rounds in

hand we put them to the test and the results may surprise you.

Todd Jaderborg, front, and Neal Shera observed and participated in the testing

as 5,000 rounds was put through each rifle.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

of 2016, I.O., Inc. requested input from industry profes-sionals, including certain members of the media, on how to further improve their rifles.

I agreed to provide input and received two rifles on temporary loan for review/evaluation. They consisted of an AKM247C and an M215 KM15, an AK and an AR. After examining them I decided the only logical course of action would be to see how they performed when put to the test. I.O., Inc. says they are working hard to improve their rifles, and wishes to further improve them. Well, let’s see just how well they perform by putting 5,000 rounds through each one, 10,000 rounds total. Although I.O., Inc. had no idea this was our plan when they shipped us the rifles, they agreed to let us do it.

The RulesTesting would be fairly straightforward. 5,000 rounds

of quality new production factory ammunition would be utilized. Only high quality magazines would be used. Each rifle would be equipped with some aftermarket accessories such as an optical sight, but the rifle itself would remain stock. Zero changes would be made to the rifles proper; they would remain 100% I.O., Inc. Each rifle would be lubricated only once during testing. The rifles would not be cleaned at any time during testing. The bores would not be scrubbed, parts were not wiped down, carbon was not removed; nothing would be done. All stoppages and malfunctions would be logged by type and round count. If either rifle successfully completed

all 5,000 rounds then the bore would be scrubbed and accuracy would be rechecked, but nothing beyond the bore would be cleaned. Accuracy was to be checked at 100 yards. Firing tempo would range from a moderate to a very fast rate. Changing the firing tempo would allow testers the opportunity to run each rifle through a vari-ety of drills on both paper and steel targets at distances ranging from 3 to 800 yards rather than just mindlessly pounding rounds into a berm. When fired at a fast pace, temperature readings would be taken using an infrared thermometer.

Due to the company in question, it was also important for this test to be above reproach. No matter what hap-pened, whether the rifles failed miserably or performed

I.O. Inc.’s AKM247C is a classic 7.62x39mm AK rifle yet it features a manual bolt hold-open, extended mag release and extended safety lever.

A Bushnell 1x25mm AK Optics red dot sight was fitted to the AKM247C using a Midwest Industries sidemount.

To reduce recoil and aid control, a Damage Industries Tactical Crown muzzle brake was fitted. This worked very well but the side blast and flash was attention getting.

Prior to testing, the AKM247C was carefully stripped and inspected, it

was lubed once and then never cleaned

throughout the 5,000-round test.

In addition to AK rifles, I.O., Inc. also offers AR rifles like this M215

KM15 that features a 15-inch free-floating KeyMod handguard.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

without issue, there must be no room for anyone to cry foul or point the finger. Firearms News made the unusual step of inviting in two members of media from outside our company to observe and take part in the test. They consisted of Todd Jaderborg of GunsandTech.com and Neal Shera of Big3East Media. If anything happened during testing that was not properly reported on in these pages, they would be free to cry foul on their own inde-pendent websites. Observers who were shooting enthusi-asts, but not in the firearms industry, were also present during testing.

AKM247CNow let’s take a look at the rifles themselves. The AK-

M247C is I.O., Inc.’s Classic model, which resembles a Red Dawn vintage 7.62x39mm AKM rifle with laminat-ed wood furniture and a stamped sheet metal receiver. A light weight Nitride treated barrel is fitted and threaded onto the muzzle one finds the unmistakable slant-cut muzzlebrake. Furniture consists of a laminated wood buttstock, fore-end and upper handguard, along with a black plastic pistol grip. There is no cleaning kit trap in the butt and a sling swivel is mounted on the bottom of the stock. Length of pull is 12.7 inches.

Sights consist of a protected front post, which is ad-justable for windage and elevation when zeroing the rifle, and a rear sight that is an unprotected tangent with a ‘U’

notch. It is adjustable from 100 to 1,000 meters in 100 meter increments and has a 300 meter battle sight setting marked with the letter ‘P’. Sight radius is a relatively short 15.2 inches. Mounted onto the left side of the receiver is an optics rail. It allows any ComBloc optic (magnified day sight, red dot or night vision) equipped with a siderail or aftermarket mount to be easily attached to the rifle.

Caliber is the tried-and-true 7.62x39mm that performs well at the practical ranges it was designed for. Feed is from polymer 30-round detachable box magazines. Vari-ous other capacity magazines (5, 10, 20, 40 and 75 round drums) will also fit. At just 35.2 inches long and weigh-ing in at only 6.9 pounds without magazine, this is a compact and quick handling carbine. The rifle ships in a hard case along with two 30-round magazines, cleaning kit and manual.

A few notable changes I.O., Inc. has made to the ba-sic design includes a bolt buffer to prolong the life of the rifle, a bolt hold-open notch cut into the safety, nitride treated barrel, extended magazine release lever and a new easy-to-reach safety lever. Complaints regarding I.O., Inc. AK rifles include the need for a buffer for the bolt carrier

to cycle properly. If the buffer is removed from the recoil spring assembly, the bolt carrier can jump out of its track and not cycle forward. There have also been complaints regarding the rifles being grossly over-gassed, reliability issues, QC issues and parts breakage. MSRP is $739.95.

The M215 KM15In contrast to the AKM247C, I.O., Inc.’s M215 KM15

is a modern AR carbine. Chambered in the traditional 5.56x45mm NATO it features a 16-inch Nitride treated barrel with a 1-8" twist. The barrel features a carbine-length gas system with a low profile gas block. Fitted to the muzzle is an A2 flash suppressor. Surrounding the barrel is a 15-inch free-floating KeyMod handguard. This is both lightweight and good looking. Plus it allows ac-cessories to easily be fitted.

The barrel is fitted to a flattop upper receiver assembly. Inside the upper rides a Nitride treated bolt carrier as-sembly. A standard GI type trigger mechanism is fitted along with a standard weight carbine buffer and action spring. A six-position collapsible M4 type buttstock is standard. Overall length with the stock fully extended is

A Wolf Performance Optics 1x/4x32mm PSU scope was fitted to the M215 KM15 for

testing. This tough optic soaked up 5,000-rounds without issue.

I.O., Inc.’s M215 KM15 features a 16-inch Nitride treated barrel with a carbine-length gas system and a 1-8" twist.

Like the AKM247C the M215 KM15 was stripped, inspected, lubricated with ALG Go-Juice and then never cleaned throughout testing.

In addition to our standard

B-27 paper silhouettes, we

put some of ShootSteel.com’s

steel targets to work. These

shrugged off thou-sands of rounds

and impressed everyone.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

36 inches and with it collapsed, this shrinks to 32.5 inch-es. Overall weight is a very handy 6.3 pounds. No sights are included, but the MIL-STD 1913 rail on the upper re-ceiver and KeyMod handguard easily accepts iron sights or optics. Suggested retail price is $789.95.

Ammunition and AccessoriesTest ammunition consisted of Wolf Performance

Ammunition’s steel-cased 7.62x39mm Polyformance 123-grain HP load and their brass cased .223 Rem. 55-grain FMJ from their Gold line. Magazines used test-ing the AK consisted of a variety of surplus 30-round steel East European, Bulgarian Waffle, Polish black poly-mer and Bulgarian black polymer plus 40-round East European steel and Bulgarian black polymer. Magazines used testing the AR consisted of 30-round GI aluminum, Lancer polymer and Palmetto State Armory aluminum along with SureFire 60-round Quad magazines and a sin-gle MagPul D60 60-round drum. Targets consisted pri-marily of paper B27 silhouettes and ShootSteel.com steel targets. We used two of their 12x20 inch Modular Tar-get Systems, a Magnum Spring Popper and their Short Range Rifle Target.

Prior to beginning the test the AKM247C was fitted with a Damage Industries two baffle Tactical Crown muzzle brake. This features two small ports on the top and attaches easily by hand. It normally retails for $29.95

but is on sale for just $12.95 as I write this. A Bushnell 1x25mm micro red dot from their AK-Optics line was fit-ted using a Midwest Industries sidemount. The Bushnell red dot features a 25mm objective, multi-coated lenses, 3 MOA dot, 11 intensity settings and is powered by a CR2032 battery. It sports 1 MOA click adjustments, an integral mount, waterproof/fogproof and shockproof construction, weighs 3.7 ounces and has a street price around $100. The Midwest Industries MI-AKSM side-mount features an easily adjustable locking system and an aluminum 6.7 inch long 1913-type rail. The sidemount weighs in at 7.3 ounces and retails for $109.95.

The M215 KM15 was fitted with Midwest Industries KeyMod rail cover panels to protect the shooter’s hand from the aluminum handguard when it heated up. Panel

kits retail for $18.00. I also added a BCM GunFighter Vertical Grip (short). This features tool-less attachment, internal storage and a retail price of $39.95. For a sighting system I chose a Wolf Performance Optics 1x/4x32mm PSU. Produced in Russia, this optic switches from 1x to 4x with the flip of a lever similar to an ELCAN DR1. Developed for hard military use, it features QD levers, an illuminated BDC reticle with telemetric rangefinder and robust construction. Designed to compete with the EL-CAN, the PSU is currently on sale for just $599, a frac-tion of what an ELCAN retails for.

Let’s RockTesting began with a careful inspection and examina-

tion of each rifle in detail. Both rifles were lubed normally

The AKM247C was run through a variety of drills where it proved

to be not only respectably accurate but also quite reliable.

A large number of steel and polymer magazines were on hand for testing.

At round number 997 and

then again at round 2,200, the

AKM247C experi-enced a failure to

feed, which was probably maga-

zine related.

The AKM247C’s laminated wood fore-end turned black from the

heat and began to char.

A group fired from the AKM247C using Wolf’s 123-grain HP load following the end of the 5,000-round test and a barrel cleaning.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

with ALG Defense Go-Juice. I don’t get caught up in the “lube wars” and tend to use whatever is at hand. The Go-Juice is new, biosynthetic and claims to be non-gumming and non-toxic with ultra-high lubricity. A 4 ounce bottle retails for $11.50. With that out of the way, each rifle was zeroed. The AKM247C’s iron sights zeroed without issue with the front post slightly off center to the left. Next the Bushnell red dot zeroed easily and the PSU was zeroed on the M215 KM15. No problems of any kind were en-countered.

For an initial check of the AKM247C’s accuracy, I fired it prone off the magazine at 100 yards. Using Wolf’s 123-grain HP load, I fired three 10-shot groups which averaged 4 inches with the closest five rounds of each group averaging 2.5 inches. Considering these were 10- shot groups fired from a field position, I thought this was fairly good for an AK. Next I tried the M215 KM15 from a rest at 100 yards. This averaged 3-inch groups with the Wolf Gold 55-grain load. To see if the rifle could do bet-ter, I tried a Black Hills 69-grain Match load. This aver-aged a respectable 1.5 inches. With that out of the way, it was time to get to work.

The fun now began in earnest with shooters taking turns cycling numbers of 30-round magazines while en-gaging steel silhouettes at 100 yards. After a while this became a bit monotonous with magazine after maga-zine going downrange without issue. Both rifles simply plugged away. Our first issue cropped up with the AK-M247C at round number 997 when it experienced a fail-ure to feed. This was photographed and easily cleared. It appeared to be magazine related so that magazine was removed from the rotation. With darkness closing in, we moved to engaging multiple paper B27 silhouettes at a rapid pace. Here the AKM247C was given no chance to cool down and the laminated wood fore-end began to smoke and turn black. The handguard temperature was measured at 164 degrees F when the barrel in front of the handguard measured 485 degrees F. We measured

temperatures of up to 580 degrees F on the barrel in this spot.

After approximately 1,500 rounds had been fired through the AKM247C, it was stripped and examined. The recoil buffer was noted to have noticeable wear. Plus the tail of the bolt carrier had marks from impacting the rear trunnion and was slightly deformed. Of particular note, there was a small but visible mark on the front left of the carrier and a corresponding mark on the barrel trun-nion where one small spot on the carrier was impacting the trunnion. This caused a visible bright spot to appear.

The AKM247C experienced a second failure to feed at the 2,200-round mark. Again it was easily cleared and fir-ing continued. Targets were engaged prone at 200 yards, 280 yards and then, using the iron sights at 800 yards. Now 800 yards is a very long ways for an AK, and hits were infrequent. But each of three shooters averaged 3 hits per 30-round magazine on a man-sized silhouette at

this distance. After a slower pace shooting at 800 yards we got back to trying to burn the handguard off. At the 3,700-round mark the buffer was badly distorted with much of it missing. A slight degradation of accuracy be-gan to be noticed at this point. This continued as testing progressed until finally after many drills the last empty hit the ground.

Testing the M215 KM15 was much less exciting than the AKM247C. It simply plugged away. The PSU scope made it very easy to hit with, either up close or at dis-tance. The only complaint voiced by every shooter was the trigger. This was heavy, substantially heavier than the AKM247C’s, which was quite good although typically long. That said, the M215 KM15 ran like a clock. You put a magazine in and out came empties as you pulled the trigger. Our only issue was the locking nut on the ad-justable stock kept loosening up. This has a small Allen screw that is supposed to lock it into place. But the firing vibrations would loosen it up. A dab of Loctite would have fixed it but that’s not how it came.

We had 2,300 rounds on the gun and started to pour on the coals. I put three 60-round and 16 30-round magazines through it at a rapid rate. When the gas tube glowed red, we measured the temperature at 598 degrees F. The chamber measured 300 degrees F while the bolt face measured 162 degrees F. The rear of the alumi-num handguard measured 250 degrees F while the front measured 220 degrees F. After firing a continuous 660 rounds, the rifle was given a few minutes to cool. When firing began again, on round 2,903, we had a failure to

The M215 KM15 features a trigger on the heavy side but otherwise

proved accurate and reliable.

AR15mold.com makes simple yet effective magazine loaders for both AR, seen here, and AK magazines. These proved to be a real thumb saver!

Houston, we have a problem! At round number 2,903, the M215 KM15 experienced a broken bolt.

Stripping the rifle revealed the bolt had broken at the cam pinhole. A replacement was installed and the rifle finished the rest of the test without issue.

100-yard accuracy was still quite good following the 5,000-round test. This group was fired using Black Hills 69-grain Match load at 100 yards.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

fire. Shining a flashlight onto the ejection port revealed the bolt had broken at the cam pin hole. Houston, we have a problem! Quickly tearing the rifle down allowed us to remove the bolt, now in two pieces, and examine the rifle in detail. No other problems were present. So we were faced with a quandary: call the test complete, or pop another bolt in and drive on? We decided no guts no glory.

I.O., Inc. was contacted and they sent us out a replace-ment bolt carrier assembly. Only the bolt out of this was

utilized. The original bolt, cam pin, firing pin and firing pin retainer were used. These parts were not cleaned, but we did lube the replacement bolt when installing it. The rifle was then put back to work. It then proceeded to plug away to 3,500 then 4,000 rounds but as with the AK we noted a slight but steady degradation of accuracy. When it hit the 4,500 round mark we began to notice some key holes on paper targets. We continued on and finished out the 5,000 rounds.

The AftermathSo why had both rifles experienced a noticeable degra-

dation of accuracy with the M215 KM15 actually begin-ning to keyhole? An examination of the barrels revealed the grooves to be full of bullet jacket fouling. I was not surprised as I have experienced this before on similar tests. So before accuracy testing could be conducted I undertook the long and boring task of trying to clean all the bullet jacket fouling out of the bore. I won’t say I got every bit, but after a couple hours you could see the grooves again. I then proceeded to fire 5-shot groups from off a rest at 100 yards. The results were actually quite interesting. The AKM247C averaged a very re-spectable 3.5 inches with the Wolf Performance Ammu-nition load. I also tried American Eagle’s 123-grain FMJ load that averaged 4.7 inches and Hornady’s 123-grain SST load averaged 4.5 inches. The M215 KM15’s groups had opened up a bit. It averaged 2.6 inches with the Black Hills 69-grain Match load and 4 inches with the Wolf Gold 55-grain FMJ. Perhaps I should have spent more time cleaning the barrel.

My ThoughtsI.O., Inc.’s AKM247C performed very well. It only suf-

fered two failures to feed in 5,000 rounds despite never being cleaned, and those were likely magazine related. The buffer should be replaced every 1,000 rounds and was destroyed by the end of our test. Plus the front of the fore-end was badly burnt from the abuse it received. Due to this it too should be replaced. But other than that the rifle appears ready for more. It certainly performed better than many on the interweb would expect.

The M215 KM15 suffered a broken bolt, which is a big deal. I was really surprised by this and found that unacceptable. Out of 5,000 rounds though, that was the only malfunction and the rifle successfully completed the test using a replacement bolt. Otherwise I.O. Inc.’s M215 KM15 fired 5,000 rounds without being cleaned. The only other issue being the annoying buttstock lock-ing nut, loosening up and occasionally falling off. This too was unacceptable.

Accessories? The Bushnell red dot’s battery compart-ment cap kept unscrewing due to the firing vibrations, but otherwise it performed very well. The Midwest Industries mount loosened up from testing and was loose enough it needed to have the locking mechanism readjusted for a proper fit. The Damage Industries muzzle brake per-formed very well and noticeably reduced recoil and muz-zle rise but the side blast/flash was attention getting. At the end of testing it had noticeable blast erosion on the inside. Wolf’s PSU 1x/4x scope performed very well with very good optical performance, a practical reticle design and steadfast performance.

When our testing was completed I shared the results with I.O., Inc. Talking with Wiegand, he informed me they had reengineered their AK bolt carriers so they would no longer require the use of a buffer. Plus, they were also addressing the issue of their AK rifles being over-gassed, were changing some of their assembly meth-ods and working to improve their QC. He also stated they would switch to a higher quality Magnetic Particle Inspected (MPI) AR bolt and a different AR collapsible buttstock based upon our feedback. Everything sounded positive. I’ll be interested to see how I.O. Inc. rifles fare in the future.

The bolt buffer was bashed into uselessness af-ter running 4,000 rounds beyond the recommended 1,000-round replacement mark.

Firing 5,000 rounds through an AK will do this: the wooden handguard was charred from the immense heat to which it was subjected. Torture tests will cause damage.

SOURCES I.O. Inc.—321-499-3819, www.ioinc.us

ALG Defense— 610-635-8937, www.algdefense.com

AR15Mold.com— 832-982-2993, www.AR15Mold.com

Black Hills Ammunition— 605-348-5150, www.black-hills.com

Bravo Company USA— 877-bravo-co, www.bravocompanyusa.com

Bushnell—800-423-3537, www.bushnell.com

Damage Industries— 574-256-7006, www.damageindustries.com

Hornady—800-338-3220, www.hornady.com

Midwest Industries Inc.— 262-896-6780, www.midwestindustriesinc.com

ShootSteel.com— 763-205-2109, www.shootsteel.com

Winchester Ammunition—www.winchester.com

Wolf Performance Ammunition and Optics—888-757-9653, www.wolfammo.com

ACCURACY RESULTS AFTER 5,000 ROUNDSI.O. INC. AKM247CLoad Velocity (fps) Standard Deviation (fps) 100 yards (inches)

American Eagle 123-grain FMJ 2,203 25 4.7

Hornady 123-grain SST 2,260 9.8 4.5

Wolf 123-grain HP 2,325 13 3.5

I.O. INC. M215 KM15Load Velocity (fps) Standard Deviation (fps) 100 yards (inches)

Black Hills 69-grain OTM 2,555 28 2.6

Wolf Gold 55-grain FMJ 2,797 49 4

Groups are an average of four 5-shot groups fired from a rest at 100 yards. Velocity readings recorded with a Labradar Doppler Radar chronograph at an ambient temperature of 50 degrees F at 1,030 feet above Sea Level.

After 4,500 rounds, the I.O., Inc. M215 KM15 began to key-hole bullets on target. Fortier chalked that up to barrel foul-ing, and a thorough cleaning restored point-forward impacts.